Meert, 44, spent the month of January in a hospital. He thought he was going to lose an arm – complications from mitochondrial disorder, which he's known about for 18 years and causes blood clots in his arteries. He lost his right eye in 1996. A year earlier, Meert was paralyzed from the waist down for six days.

Helakoski, 56, suffered a heart attack this season. He had two stents inserted. Helakoski said he missed four days and was then relegated to a chair while assistant coach Gary Napp took over for temporarily.

"(Helakoski and Meert) talked and I said, 'You and I are the surviving coaches of the tournament right now,'" said Helakoski, whose 14-8 team won the school's second straight district title and faces Schoolcraft in Monday's 8 p.m. regional semifinals at Constantine.

"My stress in my life is I just layer a lot of activities together," said Helakoski, the Cardinals' fifth-year coach. "Basketball is not easy, but it's a joy in my life. But I work days as a guidance counselor (at Mattawan Middle School) and then I coach track at Mattawan and we start Monday."

Helakoski said down-to-the-wire games like Friday's are more kind to his stress level than when a player skips practice and he has to administer discipline.

"You could tell when he was not there," said Bloomingdale senior captain Jeremiah Johnson, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer Friday. "You could tell we needed him there. He's an experienced coach."

It was an emotional Hackett locker room after the Irish's heartbreaking loss. In fact, a tear ran down Meert's cheek as he put the thrilling game in perspective and reflected upon all that he and his team have been through during their 8-14 season.

"You don't like losing, you don't accept losing, but I know there's a bigger purpose and there's a better purpose," Meert said. "Good for (Helakoski) – he's a good guy."

Hackett was oh-so close to its first boys basketball district title since 1990. It was an emotional week for the Irish, who scored 32 fourth-quarter points en route to a 73-61 victory over arch-rival Kalamazoo Christian in Wednesday's district semifinals. The Comets had defeated Hackett twice in the regular season and feature a solid, 15-win team, but Hackett rose to the occasion.

"A lot of people don't realize how much adversity this senior class has faced," Meert said about his team. "Last year, halfway through the season, they lose their coach and have to change coaches with nine games left. So then we start things over. We start out 1-4 and (in) three of our first four losses we had a lead and lost it on the last possession. Then we went to work, started to get some work done and do some things and then I ended up in the hospital the entire month of January.

"Eight weeks ago at this time, I'm in the (Intensive Care Unit), my kids are playing without me, they're talking about removing my arm," Meert continued. "We talked a lot about the fact that we face adversity for a reason and that reason is to grow as individuals and as basketball players. We talked about it all year long. We had lots of ups and downs and they were able to fight through lots of stuff and overcome some things that most teams don't have to deal with – most 17-year-old kids don't have to deal with."

This was Meert's first season at Hackett. He spent the previous eight years at Otsego, where he served as a varsity assistant coach and was able to be active in his children's lives while they grew up.

Meert said something pulled him to Hackett.

"These boys, they were in the hospital with their parents. They were bringing food to us in the hospital every day," he said. "The boys were coming, they were in the hospital and they were worried about me. They're praying and saying, 'Coach, we've got this – don't worry about it.'"

The Irish seemed to have the game at different points, but Bloomingdale never quit. The Cardinals played hard down to the final shot – Johnson's contested 3 from the left corner, near their team bench.

"You don't know why (things happen the way they do). The kid threw up a nice shot and it went in," Meert said. "I don't know what God's plans are, but they needed (the win) more than we did."

It's too bad more people don't possess Meert's attitude or Helakoski's perspective. They're healthy as can be in those areas.